Superman Page #20

The great steel lids of' the two missile silos slowly begin to open.

232RINT. TUNNEL - DAY

SUPERMAN continues. The walls and ceiling of the tunnel suddenly come alive with flaming gas jets. The tunnel becomes a blinding inferno, as SUPERMAN proceeds serenely through the holocaust.

232SEXT. DANFORTH MISSILE SILOS - DAY

The launching rockets start to activate. Fire and exhaust surround the bottom of the missile.

232TINT. TUNNEL - DAY

SUPERMAN continues, then disappears from view into the middle of an incredibly thick blizzard. A large cone of ice is instantly formed. The blizzard stops. Suddenly a thin crack appears, running down the center. SUPERMAN steps out, rubs his hands together briskly, approaches the door.

18/4/77 TM

233INT. LUTHOR'S LAIR - DAY

LUTHOR sits behind his desk, a model of smug composure, calmly reading the newspaper with the headlines and picture announcing the dual missile test. A large, blank screen has been lowered on one wall next to him. In front of the screen, a black lead trunk forms the base or something which has been converted into a bench, covered with cushions. Some distance away, OTIS finishes setting up a slide projector. EVE watches nervously from the open entrance to the viewing theater. The heavy metal main door to the complex suddenly starts to tremble under SUPERMAN 'S strength. LUTHOR looks up from his paper, calls out.

LUTHOR:

It's open...

SUPERMAN bashes the thick metal door to the ground like a stick of balsa wood, enters. LUTHOR winces, then rises pleasantly.

LUTHOR:

Come in, Superman. My attorney will be

in touch about the door. Otis, don't just

stand there, take the man's cape....

OTIS starts forward with a tentative half-smile, is suddenly rooted to the spot by SUPERMAN'S stare.

OTIS:

I... don't think he wants me to, Mr. Luthor.

SUPERMAN:

All right, Luthor, where's the gas pellet?

LUTHOR:

(smiles)

Somewhere ... in the back of my mind, actually.

It's just a fun little project I've been toying with.

SUPERMAN:

Is that how a warped brain like yours gets its

kicks? By planning the death of innocent people?

18/4/77 TM

233 CONTINUED

LUTHOR:

(quick smile)

No. By causing the death of innocent people.

234EXT. DANFORTH MISSILE BASE - DAY

The two XK101 rockets are launched simultaneously with a rush of flames and a mighty roar.

234AEXT. SKY - DAY - CLOSE ON MISSILE

The two missiles quickly rise to less than a hundred feet, then suddenly stop, split, head off in different , skimming rapidly over the ground.

234BEXT. MISSILE CONTROL CENTER - DAY

TWO MISSILE CONTROLERS sit in front of the complex bank of TV screens, computers, and control panels. Red lights flash everywhere. Alarms ring out.

MIS5ILE CONTROLLER #1

Jesus Christ, they've gone berserk!

CONTROLER #2

(madly flipping switches)

I can't control them! Red Alert! Red Alert!

Get the Pentagon!

234CINT. PENTAGON OFFICE - DAY

The CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF sits behind his desk on the phone, red-faced, astonished, wild.

CJCS:

That's impossible! It can't happen, damnit!...

It...

He grabs his red phone, picks it up.

CJCS:

Get me the President!

234DEXT. COLF COURSE - DAY

A group or suit-clad SECRET SERVICE AGENTS stand around a golf'-cart near a bunker trap. A red phone inside the cart rings wildly. An AGENT picks it up, listens, thunderstruck, turns.

Mr. President! Mr. President!

A chunk of turf goes flying up over the top of the bunker from B.G.

PRESIDENT'S VOICE

Goddamnit! What now!

234EEXT. SKY LOOKING DOWN - DAY - CLOSE ON ROCKET #1

The first stage of a lightning fast trip across American from the POV of the rockets at an altitude of less than twenty feet. The images whiz by like magic. ROCKET #1 heads eastward, passing over the yellow wheat fields of Kansas.

234FEXT. SKY LOOKING DOWN - DAY - CLOSE ON ROCKET #2

Employing the same photographic process, ROCKET #2 heads westward, passing barns and cattle ranches.

235INT. LUTHOR' S LAIR - DAY

SUPEPMAN has tolerantly taken a seat on the cushioned bench of lead. LUTHOR holds a professor's pointer in his hands, approaches the rolled-down blank screen. OTIS mans the slide projector. LUTHOR stops, turns dramatically to SUPERMAN.

LUTHOR:

You see, Superman...

(passionately)

I had a dream! ...

SUPERMAN:

In your case it must have been a nightmare,

Luthor. Get on with it!

18/4/77 TM

235CONTINUED

LUTHOR:

Right. Well ... as you mayor may not know,

Superman, I am, as they say, very heavy into

real estate. In order to make money in that

game you have to buy in for a little and sell for

a lot. Right? Right. So. Problem: how to make

that property valuable between the time you buy

and the time you sell. Now then...

LUTHOR snaps his fingers. OTIS flips on the slide projector. A brightly illuminated map hits the rolled-down screen. LUTHOR starts to speak, then looks at it curiously.

LUTHOR:

Otis. This is France.

OTIS:

Sorry, Mr. Luthor.

OTIS flips up another slide. This time it is recognizable as the western half of America. LUTHOR points.

LUTHOR:

And this - is California. The richest, most populace

state in America.

SUPERMAN:

I don't need a geography lesson from you, Luthor.

LUTHOR:

Sorry. You do get around, don't you.

(turns back)

Now then. Where was I? Ah, yes...

235ACLOSER ON MAP

CAMERA CLOSES on map. LUTHOR begins tracking the San Andreas Fault with the pointer.

8/4/77 TM

235ACONTINUED

LUTHOR:

At the San Andreas Fault. Maybe you've

heard of 1t.

SUPERMAN:

Sure. It's the joining together of two land masses.

The .fault line is unstable and shifting which is

why you get earthquakes in California from time

to time.

LUTHOR:

Couldn't have said it better myself.

(back to map)

Now all this...

(indicates)

...west of' the Fault is the most expensive real

estate in the world. Los Angeles. San Diego.

San Francisco. And on the other side...

(indicates)

is just hundreds of miles of cheap desert land.

Land that happens to be owned by Lex Luthor

Enterprises. Well...

(wistful smile)

call me a fool, but it did occur to me that if a

500 megaton bomb were to explode at exactly

the proper stress point....

SUPERMAN:

(horrified)

Most of California would be destroyed! Millions

of people would be killed! The West Coast as we

know it would...

LUTHOR:

...drop into the Sea! Bye-bye California! Hello new

West Coast! My... West Coast.

SUPERMAN:

You are a dreamer, Luthor. A sick-Twisted dreamer.

It couldn't possibly work.

18/4/77 TM

235ACONTINUED

LUTHOR:

Oh, I'll admit there were problems. Adjusting

the missile trajectory, finding the precise

point of optimum stress on the Fault...

LUTHOR smiles broadly, snaps his finger.

235BCLOSE ON SCREEN

A new, close section of the map is suddenly magnified hundreds of times. It is recognizable as desert land. Literally dozens or superimposed grid lines converge on a single point in the middle of the desolate wasteland. LUTHOR'S pointer rises to it.

LUTHOR'S VOICE

(tone chancing)

Which is... right here, by the way...

(touches it).

Target Zero.

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